DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TN, 6:45 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 408
Miles Yesterday: 269
As I suspected in yesterday morning's post, I was way too weary at the end of the day to compose another update for y'all. In fact, I was too tired to do anything but hit the sack. Here's a recap of the day.
As you recall from yesterday's update, I returned to my truck at 6:00 a.m., then waited 3 hours for my next assignment, which was to pick up a load in NW OH at 5:00 p.m. Well, I completed my blogging and headed out. I stopped en route for lunch, and reached the customer a wee bit early, 2:30 to be precise-ish. Much to my delight, they had my load ready in a pre-loaded trailer, so all I had to do was a quick drop-and-hook and be on my way, which I was by 3:00.
It was a 4-hour drive to Vandalia, including time to stop to pick up a bite to eat and weigh my truck. At the terminal I fueled up and pulled around and parked. By that time I was truly worn out--I had had a short night of sleep before getting up early to get to my truck--so I just made my requisite call home to check in with Mrs. Reluctant Trucker, then went right to bed. That was before 8:00 p.m., and I slept 'til about 6:15 this morning, so I had a real good night's sleep, which I needed.
Despite the lengthy sleep, I must've still had some residual fatigue, because I just had the feeling that today wasn't going to be a very good one. That feeling was helped along by:
1. The beverage vending machine at the terminal was out of Diet Coke
2. When I stopped at a truck stop between Dayton and Cincinnati for breakfast (there was a McDonald's next door--I'm practically hooked on their Steak, Egg, 'n Cheese Bagels), I had some stress trying to s-q-u-e-e-z-e my truck out of a very tight parking space in their small lot.
3. Rush hour traffic jams in Cinci-town.
After all that, things got a bit better, and I made it to my delivery. The drive down took up 8-1/4 of my allotted 11 driving hours for the day. I made a couple loops of the business park the customer is in, then had to pull onto the shoulder to call them for directions. It seems my directions from USA had neglected to include the actual name of the place I was looking for. Helpful info to have, eh?
The delivery was another drop-and-hook, once we ironed out the problem of the incorrect delivery number USA had given me. I dropped my loaded trailer in the assigned spot, hooked up to the empty, and sent in my "Empty Call" message to dispatch. Lo and behold, my next assignment came within minutes, before I finished up at the delivery site. My next pickup was just back up the road from whence I came. (The delivery was about 20 miles east off of I-75 along Tennessee highway 72; the pickup was 1/4 mile west of I-75 on TN 72.)
The pickup was yet another drop-and-hook. I had to wait for the staff there to return from break before they could give me my instructions, but I was done there and on my way again in 45 minutes. From there drove the 20-ish miles to my current location, a Flying J in Knoxville. I've been here a few times for refueling, but I've never spent the night. I'll be up early tomorrow and on my way west; this load is headed for the Dallas, TX area. I have about 800 miles to go by the 7:30 p.m. on Friday delivery appointment, so I'll be driving hard tomorrow. Fortunately, this is a very light load, so I won't be slowed down going up the mountains in this state--well, not much, anyway. I hope to reach the Texarkana area tomorrow, which will be a tall order since that's about 650 miles from here. Since these USA trucks are governed at 63 MPH, I'll have to be going full speed for just about all of tomorrow's 11 driving hours to get there. But if I come up short, I'll have plenty of time on Friday, since my appointment is so late in the day.
And now you're up to speed with my doings. Thanks again for dropping by this corner of the web. I hope all is well with you. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Hurry Up and...Wait
DATELINE: ROMULUS, MI, 10:45 a.m. EDT
Welcome back from the holiday weekend. I'm back in my truck--have been now for 4-3/4 hours. (Thank you, Mrs. Reluctant Trucker for the ride back here.) I got back in the truck just after 6:00 a.m., then waited 3 hours for my load assignment to come in. Fortunately I had a new book to read during the wait. Anyway, I'm still sitting here instead of driving to my pickup because that isn't 'til 5:00 tonight in NW OH, about a 2-hour (or less) drive from here. So I'm waiting for a more reasonable time to head out, which will likely be when I finish up this posting so I can drive to a truck stop for some lunch.
The load I'll be picking up this afternoon is headed for eastern TN, just a ways south of Knoxville, and due tomorrow afternoon at 4:00. I 'spect I'll spend tonight at our Vandalia, OH terminal, then make the bulk of the drive to the delivery tomorrow.
So that's where things stand right now. I was all ready to get rolling good and early this morning, then they make me wait. GRRRRR! That's not good for my paychecks, don'tcha' know? Anyway, I may or may not report tonight when I get to Vandalia; I may be a bit weary by then. But I'll be sure to post an update tomorrow night, when I'll be headed somewhere else with another load. Thanks for your support and comments, and keep on truckin'.
Welcome back from the holiday weekend. I'm back in my truck--have been now for 4-3/4 hours. (Thank you, Mrs. Reluctant Trucker for the ride back here.) I got back in the truck just after 6:00 a.m., then waited 3 hours for my load assignment to come in. Fortunately I had a new book to read during the wait. Anyway, I'm still sitting here instead of driving to my pickup because that isn't 'til 5:00 tonight in NW OH, about a 2-hour (or less) drive from here. So I'm waiting for a more reasonable time to head out, which will likely be when I finish up this posting so I can drive to a truck stop for some lunch.
The load I'll be picking up this afternoon is headed for eastern TN, just a ways south of Knoxville, and due tomorrow afternoon at 4:00. I 'spect I'll spend tonight at our Vandalia, OH terminal, then make the bulk of the drive to the delivery tomorrow.
So that's where things stand right now. I was all ready to get rolling good and early this morning, then they make me wait. GRRRRR! That's not good for my paychecks, don'tcha' know? Anyway, I may or may not report tonight when I get to Vandalia; I may be a bit weary by then. But I'll be sure to post an update tomorrow night, when I'll be headed somewhere else with another load. Thanks for your support and comments, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, May 25, 2007
The Home Front
DATELINE: HOME! 3:55 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 197
Miles Yesterday: Um, I left that info in the truck
I'm finally home for another bout of days off. I arrived here early this afternoon after a short drive from the Vandalia terminal to the yard where I park my truck during home time, then a ride home from my brother-in-law. (Thanks, Fred!) It's always great to get home, and here's hoping for some good weather so I can get a lot of needed yard work done.
To recap yesterday: The dealership completed the repairs on my truck at 11:30 a.m. (they picked me up at 11:00--checkout time--from my hotel), so I was ready when they were. I got in, sent in my "back to work" message to dispatch, then waited for my next pickup assignment, which came in shortly before noon. You Simpsons fans will like this: I had been in Springfield for the past 2 days, and my pickup was in Shelbyville (60 miles southeast of Springfield). After the drive to the pickup, it took 2 hours at the site before I was ready to roll. Since I would be headed home the next day, my assignment was to take the load to Vandalia for another driver to take it from there to its destination in Virginia. I arrived at Vandalia right around 11:00 p.m. EDT, so I was ready to get right to sleep (I had awoken at 5:00 a.m. CDT, unable to fall back asleep).
Now a quick answer to reader Dennis the Accompanist's quick question about my truck's fuel economy: The truck will get mileage in the range of 6 to 8 miles per gallon depending on the weight of the load I'm hauling and the terrain over which I'm driving.
Since I'm home, I probably won't post another update for y'all 'til I get back on the road on Tuesday. So don't be disappointed if you don't see any 'til then. Thanks again for reading, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 197
Miles Yesterday: Um, I left that info in the truck
I'm finally home for another bout of days off. I arrived here early this afternoon after a short drive from the Vandalia terminal to the yard where I park my truck during home time, then a ride home from my brother-in-law. (Thanks, Fred!) It's always great to get home, and here's hoping for some good weather so I can get a lot of needed yard work done.
To recap yesterday: The dealership completed the repairs on my truck at 11:30 a.m. (they picked me up at 11:00--checkout time--from my hotel), so I was ready when they were. I got in, sent in my "back to work" message to dispatch, then waited for my next pickup assignment, which came in shortly before noon. You Simpsons fans will like this: I had been in Springfield for the past 2 days, and my pickup was in Shelbyville (60 miles southeast of Springfield). After the drive to the pickup, it took 2 hours at the site before I was ready to roll. Since I would be headed home the next day, my assignment was to take the load to Vandalia for another driver to take it from there to its destination in Virginia. I arrived at Vandalia right around 11:00 p.m. EDT, so I was ready to get right to sleep (I had awoken at 5:00 a.m. CDT, unable to fall back asleep).
Now a quick answer to reader Dennis the Accompanist's quick question about my truck's fuel economy: The truck will get mileage in the range of 6 to 8 miles per gallon depending on the weight of the load I'm hauling and the terrain over which I'm driving.
Since I'm home, I probably won't post another update for y'all 'til I get back on the road on Tuesday. So don't be disappointed if you don't see any 'til then. Thanks again for reading, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Still Stranded
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, IL, 9:37 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 0
That's right, I'm still stuck here waiting for my truck's repairs. It seems the part the need (a water pump) was a bit more difficult to come by than they expected. The last I heard, early this afternoon, it was going to be flown in from Memphis and would arrive around 9:00 p.m. today. Since the shop closes at midnight, is was unlikely they'd finish it up today. So I re-upped for another night at the hotel. Hopefully they'll finish up the fixup early tomorrow so I can pick up a load and haul it on my way home.
So that's all the news for today. I'm looking forward to reporting something else tomorrow. Thanks for checking in, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 0
That's right, I'm still stuck here waiting for my truck's repairs. It seems the part the need (a water pump) was a bit more difficult to come by than they expected. The last I heard, early this afternoon, it was going to be flown in from Memphis and would arrive around 9:00 p.m. today. Since the shop closes at midnight, is was unlikely they'd finish it up today. So I re-upped for another night at the hotel. Hopefully they'll finish up the fixup early tomorrow so I can pick up a load and haul it on my way home.
So that's all the news for today. I'm looking forward to reporting something else tomorrow. Thanks for checking in, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Unplanned Stop
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, IL, 5:37 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 291
Well, that was a bit fewer miles than I wanted/needed/expected to drive today. It all started well this morning. I woke up at 4:00, took a shower, and hit the road at 4:45. I was making good time, even made it through St. Louis at rush hour without any traffic slowdowns. I was making my way up I-55 when, around 10:00 or so I thought I heard a strange sound from up front. I eventually thought it sounded like gurgling water, which made me think about the water temperature gauge. So I looked it it, and saw it was reading about 220 degrees. Uh-oh, that's too high; it normally reads around 180. So I slowed to take the strain off the engine and pulled off a few minutes later at the next exit.
I pulled over to an old gas station and got out to check the engine. The first thing I noticed was coolant dripping--no, pouring--on the ground below the engine. Not good. So I called the Breakdown department and told them of my predicament. The checked their list of approved garages and found one only 2 more miles up the highway. So after a period to let the engine cool off (during which I poured some water into the coolant reservoir--it poured right back out the bottom of the engine), I put the hood back down and drove carefully to the shop.
At the shop they took a look and quickly noticed a broken water pump. The pump's belt pulley was sitting at an odd angle--further forward at the bottom than the top--and when they poured water into the coolant reservoir, it poured out at that spot at the bottom of the pulley. A definite sign of a leak. ;-)
The shop where I was couldn't fix that, so USA arranged for a tow truck to take the beast to an International dealership (did I ever mention my truck is an International 9400i?) here in Springfield. I waited over 2 hours for the tow truck, but it finally came (actually, there were 2, one wrecker for the tractor and a "regular" truck to pull my trailer) and brought me to the dealership. There, of course, I had to do some more waiting while they checked out the problem, wrote up an estimate, and called it in to USA to get approval. Which USA gave. Since the dealership didn't have a water pump on hand, they had to order one for overnight delivery. Which meant that USA would have to put me up in a hotel for the night. Aha! The silver lining! (The downside: fewer paid miles. I'll have to make sure I get breakdown pay to cover that.)
So now I'm sitting on my hotel bed in air conditioned comfort, watching ESPN, blogging away. The dealership expects to have my truck done in the early afternoon tomorrow, so I'll sleep in late in the morning, expecting to get a load assignment when the repairs are complete and driving late into the night.
Now it's time to answer reader Dennis the Accompanist's next query: "How high are the trailers?" Answer: The standard 53-foot long "dry vans" like those USA drivers pull are 13 feet, 6 inches tall. Rand McNally publishes a Truckers' Road Atlas that lists low clearance locations so when we truckers are plotting our routes, we can avoid those places. The lowest clearance bridge I've driven beneath is 13'-7". Seemed to clear it without a problem.
So that's today's report. (Wow! Three days running!) I hope it was worth your while. Please let me know via your comments, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 291
Well, that was a bit fewer miles than I wanted/needed/expected to drive today. It all started well this morning. I woke up at 4:00, took a shower, and hit the road at 4:45. I was making good time, even made it through St. Louis at rush hour without any traffic slowdowns. I was making my way up I-55 when, around 10:00 or so I thought I heard a strange sound from up front. I eventually thought it sounded like gurgling water, which made me think about the water temperature gauge. So I looked it it, and saw it was reading about 220 degrees. Uh-oh, that's too high; it normally reads around 180. So I slowed to take the strain off the engine and pulled off a few minutes later at the next exit.
I pulled over to an old gas station and got out to check the engine. The first thing I noticed was coolant dripping--no, pouring--on the ground below the engine. Not good. So I called the Breakdown department and told them of my predicament. The checked their list of approved garages and found one only 2 more miles up the highway. So after a period to let the engine cool off (during which I poured some water into the coolant reservoir--it poured right back out the bottom of the engine), I put the hood back down and drove carefully to the shop.
At the shop they took a look and quickly noticed a broken water pump. The pump's belt pulley was sitting at an odd angle--further forward at the bottom than the top--and when they poured water into the coolant reservoir, it poured out at that spot at the bottom of the pulley. A definite sign of a leak. ;-)
The shop where I was couldn't fix that, so USA arranged for a tow truck to take the beast to an International dealership (did I ever mention my truck is an International 9400i?) here in Springfield. I waited over 2 hours for the tow truck, but it finally came (actually, there were 2, one wrecker for the tractor and a "regular" truck to pull my trailer) and brought me to the dealership. There, of course, I had to do some more waiting while they checked out the problem, wrote up an estimate, and called it in to USA to get approval. Which USA gave. Since the dealership didn't have a water pump on hand, they had to order one for overnight delivery. Which meant that USA would have to put me up in a hotel for the night. Aha! The silver lining! (The downside: fewer paid miles. I'll have to make sure I get breakdown pay to cover that.)
So now I'm sitting on my hotel bed in air conditioned comfort, watching ESPN, blogging away. The dealership expects to have my truck done in the early afternoon tomorrow, so I'll sleep in late in the morning, expecting to get a load assignment when the repairs are complete and driving late into the night.
Now it's time to answer reader Dennis the Accompanist's next query: "How high are the trailers?" Answer: The standard 53-foot long "dry vans" like those USA drivers pull are 13 feet, 6 inches tall. Rand McNally publishes a Truckers' Road Atlas that lists low clearance locations so when we truckers are plotting our routes, we can avoid those places. The lowest clearance bridge I've driven beneath is 13'-7". Seemed to clear it without a problem.
So that's today's report. (Wow! Three days running!) I hope it was worth your while. Please let me know via your comments, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, May 21, 2007
3rd Time's a Charm
DATELINE: STRATFORD, MO, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 507
Well lookie here, I actually CAN blog two days running! How 'bout dat? I want to start by thanking first-time commenter (Commentor? Commentator?) and long-time reader Dennis the Accompanist for joining the ranks of the correspondents. And I'll answer his question before reliving my lengthy day for you.
Dennis is wondering about how the tractor hooks up to a trailer. It is very simple, really. Each trailer has what is known as a "kingpin" on its underside near the front. It's basically a notched cylinder protruding downward. Mounted to the top of the tractor's frame in the back is what's known commonly as a "5th wheel" (I forget its actual name, some sort of "plate"). The back of the 5th wheel has an opening that the kingpin slides into as the tractor backs under the trailer (not really very difficult once you've done it once or twice). Once the kingpin hits the center of the 5th wheel, where the opening ends, it engages a latch that closes around and holds the kingpin in place. The driver then hooks up 1 electrical line and 2 air lines to the connectors on the front of the trailer (they originate from the back of the tractor). Take a look at a truck next time you're near one. Between the tractor and the trailer you'll see the (usually) green electrical line and one blue and one red air line. The air lines are usually coiled to prevent "kinking". The electrical line provides power for the trailer's running and brake lights. The air lines, a primary and a secondary, provide the compressed air for the trailer's brakes. Oh, I should also mention the part about cranking up the "landing gear"--the legs up front that the trailer rests on when not hooked to a tractor. They need to be fully retracted when the trailer is being pulled behind a tractor to avoid catching on the ground.
And that's about it for hooking up a trailer. Was that complete and concise enough? If you're still confused about any part of this explanation, just lemme know.
As for today's doings, all went pretty well. I started by waking up at 4:00 this morning in Stringtown, OK, and was on the road by 4:30. I reached my delivery in Durant about an hour later. It took another 15 minutes or so to get through the line at the guard shack, check in at the receiving office, and back into my assigned dock. Then it was another 1/2 hour before they started unloading my trailer. But that part went quickly and I was done there by 6:45. I headed to a truck stop virtually across the street and grabbed a Croissanwich meal at their Burger King while I waited for my next assignment.
Lo and behold, my next pickup became my first 3-timer since I hit the road as a solo driver. I was sent to a company I've been to twice before in Shawnee, OK. (What I like about the place is that it's on a street by the name of "Wolverine".) That was a 3-hour drive from where I had made my delivery, so I spent the bulk of the rest of the morning getting there. The pickup was a drop-and-hook, which went quickly as well. Just after 11:00 I was back on the road, headed for my new destination. Which is...Neenah, Wisconsin. Back north once more! My load assignment lists it as a 902-mile trip (but it's probably a tad longer than that), and my delivery appointment is for 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, so I need to hustle to get there. I'm sure I have plenty of driving time available to get there, but it'll be a long drive tomorrow. And I'll probably have a little ways left to finish the drive Wednesday morning after driving all of my allotted hours tomorrow, but I should get there on time. I did bite off a good chunk of the distance today, reaching my current locale--a TA truck stop--at 5:30 p.m. But I do still have quite a long trip ahead. But that's good; more miles means bigger paychecks. Last weeks mileage was a bit light, so I want as many miles as I can get this week before heading home for the weekend.
And that's how to hook up a trailer and how my day went. Drop me a line and let me know if you want me to 'splain any other aspects of operating a big rig that you're curious about. Thanks as ever for taking your valuable time to read my blabberings, and do keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 507
Well lookie here, I actually CAN blog two days running! How 'bout dat? I want to start by thanking first-time commenter (Commentor? Commentator?) and long-time reader Dennis the Accompanist for joining the ranks of the correspondents. And I'll answer his question before reliving my lengthy day for you.
Dennis is wondering about how the tractor hooks up to a trailer. It is very simple, really. Each trailer has what is known as a "kingpin" on its underside near the front. It's basically a notched cylinder protruding downward. Mounted to the top of the tractor's frame in the back is what's known commonly as a "5th wheel" (I forget its actual name, some sort of "plate"). The back of the 5th wheel has an opening that the kingpin slides into as the tractor backs under the trailer (not really very difficult once you've done it once or twice). Once the kingpin hits the center of the 5th wheel, where the opening ends, it engages a latch that closes around and holds the kingpin in place. The driver then hooks up 1 electrical line and 2 air lines to the connectors on the front of the trailer (they originate from the back of the tractor). Take a look at a truck next time you're near one. Between the tractor and the trailer you'll see the (usually) green electrical line and one blue and one red air line. The air lines are usually coiled to prevent "kinking". The electrical line provides power for the trailer's running and brake lights. The air lines, a primary and a secondary, provide the compressed air for the trailer's brakes. Oh, I should also mention the part about cranking up the "landing gear"--the legs up front that the trailer rests on when not hooked to a tractor. They need to be fully retracted when the trailer is being pulled behind a tractor to avoid catching on the ground.
And that's about it for hooking up a trailer. Was that complete and concise enough? If you're still confused about any part of this explanation, just lemme know.
As for today's doings, all went pretty well. I started by waking up at 4:00 this morning in Stringtown, OK, and was on the road by 4:30. I reached my delivery in Durant about an hour later. It took another 15 minutes or so to get through the line at the guard shack, check in at the receiving office, and back into my assigned dock. Then it was another 1/2 hour before they started unloading my trailer. But that part went quickly and I was done there by 6:45. I headed to a truck stop virtually across the street and grabbed a Croissanwich meal at their Burger King while I waited for my next assignment.
Lo and behold, my next pickup became my first 3-timer since I hit the road as a solo driver. I was sent to a company I've been to twice before in Shawnee, OK. (What I like about the place is that it's on a street by the name of "Wolverine".) That was a 3-hour drive from where I had made my delivery, so I spent the bulk of the rest of the morning getting there. The pickup was a drop-and-hook, which went quickly as well. Just after 11:00 I was back on the road, headed for my new destination. Which is...Neenah, Wisconsin. Back north once more! My load assignment lists it as a 902-mile trip (but it's probably a tad longer than that), and my delivery appointment is for 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, so I need to hustle to get there. I'm sure I have plenty of driving time available to get there, but it'll be a long drive tomorrow. And I'll probably have a little ways left to finish the drive Wednesday morning after driving all of my allotted hours tomorrow, but I should get there on time. I did bite off a good chunk of the distance today, reaching my current locale--a TA truck stop--at 5:30 p.m. But I do still have quite a long trip ahead. But that's good; more miles means bigger paychecks. Last weeks mileage was a bit light, so I want as many miles as I can get this week before heading home for the weekend.
And that's how to hook up a trailer and how my day went. Drop me a line and let me know if you want me to 'splain any other aspects of operating a big rig that you're curious about. Thanks as ever for taking your valuable time to read my blabberings, and do keep on truckin'.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Writer Unblocked
DATELINE: STRINGTOWN, OK, 2:45 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 437
Miles Yesterday: 310
Miles Friday: 349
My humblest apologies for not updating this site the last couple of days. I have no excuses; I just was not inspired to write. I guess this job has become so "old-hat" to me by now that the days and the duties don't seem remarkable any more. I'm sure you can relate. But I do know that you, my faithful readership, are interested in my daily comings and goings, and I have a duty to keep you informed. So, again, my humblest apologies for keeping you in the dark for 2 days.
Let me continue today by answering reader mrr's query, "So, how are you REALLY enjoying this trucker thang?" The short answer is that I don't, really. It's a job to try to pay the bills, that's all. Sure, there are some cool parts about it, such as I know how to drive a big rig and I get paid to drive around this great big land of ours. But for the most part it's a grind. The hours are long; I'm away from home (and the millions of things I need to be attending to there) and my family; I never know where I'll be more than 2 or 3 days ahead of time; my "free time" is spent mostly by myself in my sleeper berth blogging, surfing the web, and dealing with e-mail; mechanical breakdowns are a royal pain in the neck. So no, on the whole I'm not really enjoying this trucker thang. So cheer me up and send me some comments already! ;-) Now, on to what I've been doing lately.
At my last report I was in central Tennessee headed for Chattanooga. That delivery went fine, although I did have a 45-minute wait there before they assigned me a dock door. Then I drove to the nearest rest area down the highway (I-75) just over the line into Georgia and waited for my next assignment. That came quickly: pick up a load from a small town about 15-to-20 miles northeast of Chattanooga and take it to its southern Oklahoma destination for a Monday morning delivery. After a 40-mile detour thanks to more faulty directions (man! you get on one of those 2-lane country highways and there's no place to turn around for miles!), I found the town and the company, parked, and checked in. Then I had another hour-long wait before they assigned me a loading dock. The loading process went quickly, and then I was on my way back west. I stopped for the night about an hour west of Chattanooga at a mom-n-pop truck stop near the town of Monteagle.
Yesterday was a short, 6-hour drive to USA Truck's West Memphis, AR terminal. I was up early and reached the terminal just after noon, then spent the rest of the day getting bad cards in my online poker pursuit. Not a good day there.
This morning I was planning to wake up at 5:00, but I woke up at 3:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. I hate when that happens. Oh well. I got up anyway, had a leisurely shower and shave and a bite to eat, and hit the road at 5:00. Since my delivery appointment tomorrow morning is at 5:30, at least I'm on the right schedule for that. Today's drive was across Arkansas and into Oklahoma along I-40, then down US-69 to my current location. I'm at a truck stop that has a Choctaw Nation casino, or rather, it's a casino with a travel center (gas station and convenience store). Anyway, it's a small place that probably just has slot machines. I don't plan on going into the casino to check it out. I'm a bit tired from a few short nights of sleep, so I think I'll finish this up, check my e-mail, then catch some Z's.
So that's what's what with my whirlwind wanderings. I hope you didn't miss me too much during my silent days. Since I'll have a new destination tomorrow after making my morning delivery, I'll be sure to let you know where I'll be headed. By the way, I will be headed home at the end of this week for another couple of days off, so I am definitely looking forward to that. Here's hoping for some good weather so I can get out and work in my garden--it's time to get some veggies planted!
Thanks for your loyal readership, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 437
Miles Yesterday: 310
Miles Friday: 349
My humblest apologies for not updating this site the last couple of days. I have no excuses; I just was not inspired to write. I guess this job has become so "old-hat" to me by now that the days and the duties don't seem remarkable any more. I'm sure you can relate. But I do know that you, my faithful readership, are interested in my daily comings and goings, and I have a duty to keep you informed. So, again, my humblest apologies for keeping you in the dark for 2 days.
Let me continue today by answering reader mrr's query, "So, how are you REALLY enjoying this trucker thang?" The short answer is that I don't, really. It's a job to try to pay the bills, that's all. Sure, there are some cool parts about it, such as I know how to drive a big rig and I get paid to drive around this great big land of ours. But for the most part it's a grind. The hours are long; I'm away from home (and the millions of things I need to be attending to there) and my family; I never know where I'll be more than 2 or 3 days ahead of time; my "free time" is spent mostly by myself in my sleeper berth blogging, surfing the web, and dealing with e-mail; mechanical breakdowns are a royal pain in the neck. So no, on the whole I'm not really enjoying this trucker thang. So cheer me up and send me some comments already! ;-) Now, on to what I've been doing lately.
At my last report I was in central Tennessee headed for Chattanooga. That delivery went fine, although I did have a 45-minute wait there before they assigned me a dock door. Then I drove to the nearest rest area down the highway (I-75) just over the line into Georgia and waited for my next assignment. That came quickly: pick up a load from a small town about 15-to-20 miles northeast of Chattanooga and take it to its southern Oklahoma destination for a Monday morning delivery. After a 40-mile detour thanks to more faulty directions (man! you get on one of those 2-lane country highways and there's no place to turn around for miles!), I found the town and the company, parked, and checked in. Then I had another hour-long wait before they assigned me a loading dock. The loading process went quickly, and then I was on my way back west. I stopped for the night about an hour west of Chattanooga at a mom-n-pop truck stop near the town of Monteagle.
Yesterday was a short, 6-hour drive to USA Truck's West Memphis, AR terminal. I was up early and reached the terminal just after noon, then spent the rest of the day getting bad cards in my online poker pursuit. Not a good day there.
This morning I was planning to wake up at 5:00, but I woke up at 3:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. I hate when that happens. Oh well. I got up anyway, had a leisurely shower and shave and a bite to eat, and hit the road at 5:00. Since my delivery appointment tomorrow morning is at 5:30, at least I'm on the right schedule for that. Today's drive was across Arkansas and into Oklahoma along I-40, then down US-69 to my current location. I'm at a truck stop that has a Choctaw Nation casino, or rather, it's a casino with a travel center (gas station and convenience store). Anyway, it's a small place that probably just has slot machines. I don't plan on going into the casino to check it out. I'm a bit tired from a few short nights of sleep, so I think I'll finish this up, check my e-mail, then catch some Z's.
So that's what's what with my whirlwind wanderings. I hope you didn't miss me too much during my silent days. Since I'll have a new destination tomorrow after making my morning delivery, I'll be sure to let you know where I'll be headed. By the way, I will be headed home at the end of this week for another couple of days off, so I am definitely looking forward to that. Here's hoping for some good weather so I can get out and work in my garden--it's time to get some veggies planted!
Thanks for your loyal readership, and keep on truckin'.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Goin' to See the Choo-Choo
DATELINE: CHRISTIANA, TN, 2:50 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 454
Miles Yesterday: 262
First of all, please pardon my lack of update yesterday. I did try to give you the news, but for some reason my blogspot login screen would not come up. Anyway, I'll catch you up with today's compilation.
Yesterday I made my delivery in the morning outside of Grand Rapids, MI. That took a couple of hours, then I drove to a nearby truck stop to wait for my next assignment. This one wasn't so quick in coming, so I had a bit of a wait for it and grabbed a bite to eat during the downtime. Finally it appeared: Bop over to Paw Paw, MI to pick up a load bound for Chattanooga, TN.
The pickup appointment wasn't 'til 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, and I received the assignment at around 10:00. Paw Paw is only about a 1-1/2-hour leisurely drive from where I was, but I plotted my route and headed there anyway. I arrived just after noon and checked in.
I was told, as I expected, that the load wasn't ready yet. However, they told me that they'd get the warehouse working on it right away and to check back in half an hour. Which I did. The load was ready for me, and they sent me to the appropriate dock to get loaded up (this site had a few buildings). 30 minutes or so later, I was on my way. I decided to head south through Indiana, rather than Ohio, for two reasons: 1. I've done that I-75 drive through OH many times, and it's quite boring, and 2. Indiana has a higher speed limit for trucks.
I stopped for the night in Fort Wayne, IN at a familiar truck stop. It's familiar because when I was in truck driving school in Fort Wayne, way back last October, when we were training on the road the instructors would often have us stop there for breaks. This time I stayed just a little bit longer--overnight.
I got up and on the road very early this morning--4:30 a.m. I wanted to get a good long drive in today and finish up before the truck stops would start getting busy. I had noticed that there aren't any in the immediate vicinity of Chattanooga, so I knew that any and all spots would fill up early.
Today's drive was just fine, without incident or traffic headaches. I could--or probably should--have gone a bit further than this place I stopped today, but I was getting a bit fatigued and this seemed like a good enough place. It's a Love's truck stop with a McDonald's and the parking lot was wide open. It's only another 100 miles or so to Chattanooga, so I'll hit the road at 4:30 again tomorrow morning to get to my delivery on time, which is 7:00 a.m.
So that's the latest news from the road. Thanks again for looking in. It's been a few days since the latest comments from y'all, so please do send something my way. And don't neglect your keepin' on truckin'.
Miles Today: 454
Miles Yesterday: 262
First of all, please pardon my lack of update yesterday. I did try to give you the news, but for some reason my blogspot login screen would not come up. Anyway, I'll catch you up with today's compilation.
Yesterday I made my delivery in the morning outside of Grand Rapids, MI. That took a couple of hours, then I drove to a nearby truck stop to wait for my next assignment. This one wasn't so quick in coming, so I had a bit of a wait for it and grabbed a bite to eat during the downtime. Finally it appeared: Bop over to Paw Paw, MI to pick up a load bound for Chattanooga, TN.
The pickup appointment wasn't 'til 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, and I received the assignment at around 10:00. Paw Paw is only about a 1-1/2-hour leisurely drive from where I was, but I plotted my route and headed there anyway. I arrived just after noon and checked in.
I was told, as I expected, that the load wasn't ready yet. However, they told me that they'd get the warehouse working on it right away and to check back in half an hour. Which I did. The load was ready for me, and they sent me to the appropriate dock to get loaded up (this site had a few buildings). 30 minutes or so later, I was on my way. I decided to head south through Indiana, rather than Ohio, for two reasons: 1. I've done that I-75 drive through OH many times, and it's quite boring, and 2. Indiana has a higher speed limit for trucks.
I stopped for the night in Fort Wayne, IN at a familiar truck stop. It's familiar because when I was in truck driving school in Fort Wayne, way back last October, when we were training on the road the instructors would often have us stop there for breaks. This time I stayed just a little bit longer--overnight.
I got up and on the road very early this morning--4:30 a.m. I wanted to get a good long drive in today and finish up before the truck stops would start getting busy. I had noticed that there aren't any in the immediate vicinity of Chattanooga, so I knew that any and all spots would fill up early.
Today's drive was just fine, without incident or traffic headaches. I could--or probably should--have gone a bit further than this place I stopped today, but I was getting a bit fatigued and this seemed like a good enough place. It's a Love's truck stop with a McDonald's and the parking lot was wide open. It's only another 100 miles or so to Chattanooga, so I'll hit the road at 4:30 again tomorrow morning to get to my delivery on time, which is 7:00 a.m.
So that's the latest news from the road. Thanks again for looking in. It's been a few days since the latest comments from y'all, so please do send something my way. And don't neglect your keepin' on truckin'.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Don't Blink
DATELINE: GRAND RAPIDS, MI, 3:30 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 339
I'm poised for tomorrow's delivery, stopped for the night at a rest area just west of the city. The customer site is on the other side of town, but it'll be a short drive for me on the highway loop around town in the morning. Today's drive was an easy jaunt, nothing of interest to note. So this'll be quite a short update. In fact, that was it. I hope you enjoyed it (and are not too dismayed at its brevity).
Thanks again for your patronage. Gimme some comments, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 339
I'm poised for tomorrow's delivery, stopped for the night at a rest area just west of the city. The customer site is on the other side of town, but it'll be a short drive for me on the highway loop around town in the morning. Today's drive was an easy jaunt, nothing of interest to note. So this'll be quite a short update. In fact, that was it. I hope you enjoyed it (and are not too dismayed at its brevity).
Thanks again for your patronage. Gimme some comments, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Weekend Break
DATELINE: EFFINGHAM, IL, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 345
Miles Yesterday: 0
When last we met, I explained how I had arrived at the company's West Memphis, AR terminal and was awaiting word on whether or not they wanted me to drop my loaded trailer there, since I was about out of my allotted work hours. Well, I never got the word 'til 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning when I was awakened by the driver who had been assigned to complete the load--to which my truck was still attached--knocking on my door. That's always such a pleasant way to wake up...NOT! So, many thanks to the weekend dispatch crew for failing to get the word to me in advance...NOT!
Anyway, I got up, unhooked the trailer, moved my truck to another parking spot, and could not get back to sleep, even though I had been up 'til 2:00 a.m. reading and was tres tired. So I stayed up. I also waited to get word on what my next assignment would be, but that didn't come 'til mid-afternoon. Assignment: Take a loaded trailer from the West Memphis terminal to a customer in western Michigan (awwright! Back to the home state!) for a Wednesday morning delivery. That gave me the chance to complete a 34-hour break at West Memphis before I would need to get back on the road. (Reminder, the 34-hour break "resets" a driver's 70-work-hours-in-8-days clock to zero, so I could go back to those long work days and not have to keep a close eye, for a few days, anyway, on whether or not I was nearing that mark.)
So I spent most of Sunday on my "2nd job", the online poker thing, mostly taking bad beats. And I took a break from that in the evening and watched "The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King" in the drivers' lounge. That kept me up later than I had wanted, and then I had trouble falling asleep, despite great fatigue. Then the fun continued.
I woke up this morning just fine, took a shower and shaved, got back in my truck and found my assigned loaded trailer, hooked up to it, fueled up, drove down the road to a truck stop to weigh my load (this is a heavy one), grabbed a bite to eat there, and then hit the road. I had just gotten up to speed on the highway when an alarm sounded and grabbed my attention. I glanced at the console and saw the engine temperature warning light on and saw the temperature gauge reading way too high. Uh oh, not good. I slowed down to lower the temp a bit, proceeded to the next exit, turned around, and returned to the terminal to report the problem to the shop there. So I was stuck there for another 3-1/2 hours 'til they had fixed the problem. I was back on the road at 11:00 a.m., CDT, after originally starting out at 7:00.
Fortunately I had a "short" drive planned for today, to reach my current locale in central IL. It's about halfway to my MI destination, my plan being to split the drive up into 2 easy days of driving. Tomorrow I'll head for one of several truck stops in the Grand Rapids area; I'll decide on which one by whichever whim is in the forefront as I near the area. Watch for my report tomorrow evening.
I'm still a bit behind on my sleep, so it's time to wrap this up and hit the sack. Thanks for your rapt attention. Let me know how things are with you via the comments feature of this blog and, as always, keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 345
Miles Yesterday: 0
When last we met, I explained how I had arrived at the company's West Memphis, AR terminal and was awaiting word on whether or not they wanted me to drop my loaded trailer there, since I was about out of my allotted work hours. Well, I never got the word 'til 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning when I was awakened by the driver who had been assigned to complete the load--to which my truck was still attached--knocking on my door. That's always such a pleasant way to wake up...NOT! So, many thanks to the weekend dispatch crew for failing to get the word to me in advance...NOT!
Anyway, I got up, unhooked the trailer, moved my truck to another parking spot, and could not get back to sleep, even though I had been up 'til 2:00 a.m. reading and was tres tired. So I stayed up. I also waited to get word on what my next assignment would be, but that didn't come 'til mid-afternoon. Assignment: Take a loaded trailer from the West Memphis terminal to a customer in western Michigan (awwright! Back to the home state!) for a Wednesday morning delivery. That gave me the chance to complete a 34-hour break at West Memphis before I would need to get back on the road. (Reminder, the 34-hour break "resets" a driver's 70-work-hours-in-8-days clock to zero, so I could go back to those long work days and not have to keep a close eye, for a few days, anyway, on whether or not I was nearing that mark.)
So I spent most of Sunday on my "2nd job", the online poker thing, mostly taking bad beats. And I took a break from that in the evening and watched "The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King" in the drivers' lounge. That kept me up later than I had wanted, and then I had trouble falling asleep, despite great fatigue. Then the fun continued.
I woke up this morning just fine, took a shower and shaved, got back in my truck and found my assigned loaded trailer, hooked up to it, fueled up, drove down the road to a truck stop to weigh my load (this is a heavy one), grabbed a bite to eat there, and then hit the road. I had just gotten up to speed on the highway when an alarm sounded and grabbed my attention. I glanced at the console and saw the engine temperature warning light on and saw the temperature gauge reading way too high. Uh oh, not good. I slowed down to lower the temp a bit, proceeded to the next exit, turned around, and returned to the terminal to report the problem to the shop there. So I was stuck there for another 3-1/2 hours 'til they had fixed the problem. I was back on the road at 11:00 a.m., CDT, after originally starting out at 7:00.
Fortunately I had a "short" drive planned for today, to reach my current locale in central IL. It's about halfway to my MI destination, my plan being to split the drive up into 2 easy days of driving. Tomorrow I'll head for one of several truck stops in the Grand Rapids area; I'll decide on which one by whichever whim is in the forefront as I near the area. Watch for my report tomorrow evening.
I'm still a bit behind on my sleep, so it's time to wrap this up and hit the sack. Thanks for your rapt attention. Let me know how things are with you via the comments feature of this blog and, as always, keep on truckin'.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
An "Easy" Day
DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR, 6:00 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 461
A bit of an easier day today than I've had lately. I could have driven a couple more hours today, but I stopped here at the company terminal in case they want/need me to drop my current load here. You see, I only have 6-1/4 hours of my 70-in-8-days left for the next 2 days, so I don't have enough to finish the drive and make the deliveries (this load has product for 2 destinations) in northern IL on Monday. So I expect they'd like me to drop the trailer here for someone else to complete the run. I'm still waiting to hear about that. Anyway, back to a recap of my day.
I was planning to get up at 5:00 a.m., but I woke up a little after 4:30 anyway and decided I might as well get up and going. The Van Buren, AR terminal where I was has showers, so I took advantage of that before hitting the road, which I did just after 5:30. My route to my pickup was straight down US 71 along the western side of the state to a small town just north of Texarkana. Not long after I got onto 71, I encountered some nice, thick fog, which hung around for quite a while. That made the drive along that winding, mostly 2-lane undivided highway that much more fun. But the sun eventually broke through and I encountered no mishaps along the way.
The drive to the pickup took just under 4 hours. Then I proceeded to the company's trailer inspection station (by the way, I had been there once before, so I was familiar with their procedures) to sweep out the trailer. Last time I was there I had to sit through a live load. Today I just needed to do a drop-and-hook. So I parked my empty, found the specified loaded trailer, and was on my way an hour after arrival. (I did have to fight with another set of tandems that wouldn't slide...I had to find a big rock to wedge under a trailer tire to keep it from rolling while I backed up to slide them.)
Then I hit the road east, my goal to get here. I knew I had plenty of time; the drive across the state from Texarkana to West Memphis usually takes 4-1/2 hours of driving. And it did today, too. I did make a couple of stops: one for lunch, and one at a rest area for an hour-long nap. It felt good to have the luxury of extra time to take that nap, because I haven't had any extra time all week. It's just been rush, rush, rush (or wait, wait, wait in Wednesday's case).
So that's today's story. Hope it didn't bore you. Thanks for checking up on me, and keep on truckin' and commentin'.
Miles Today: 461
A bit of an easier day today than I've had lately. I could have driven a couple more hours today, but I stopped here at the company terminal in case they want/need me to drop my current load here. You see, I only have 6-1/4 hours of my 70-in-8-days left for the next 2 days, so I don't have enough to finish the drive and make the deliveries (this load has product for 2 destinations) in northern IL on Monday. So I expect they'd like me to drop the trailer here for someone else to complete the run. I'm still waiting to hear about that. Anyway, back to a recap of my day.
I was planning to get up at 5:00 a.m., but I woke up a little after 4:30 anyway and decided I might as well get up and going. The Van Buren, AR terminal where I was has showers, so I took advantage of that before hitting the road, which I did just after 5:30. My route to my pickup was straight down US 71 along the western side of the state to a small town just north of Texarkana. Not long after I got onto 71, I encountered some nice, thick fog, which hung around for quite a while. That made the drive along that winding, mostly 2-lane undivided highway that much more fun. But the sun eventually broke through and I encountered no mishaps along the way.
The drive to the pickup took just under 4 hours. Then I proceeded to the company's trailer inspection station (by the way, I had been there once before, so I was familiar with their procedures) to sweep out the trailer. Last time I was there I had to sit through a live load. Today I just needed to do a drop-and-hook. So I parked my empty, found the specified loaded trailer, and was on my way an hour after arrival. (I did have to fight with another set of tandems that wouldn't slide...I had to find a big rock to wedge under a trailer tire to keep it from rolling while I backed up to slide them.)
Then I hit the road east, my goal to get here. I knew I had plenty of time; the drive across the state from Texarkana to West Memphis usually takes 4-1/2 hours of driving. And it did today, too. I did make a couple of stops: one for lunch, and one at a rest area for an hour-long nap. It felt good to have the luxury of extra time to take that nap, because I haven't had any extra time all week. It's just been rush, rush, rush (or wait, wait, wait in Wednesday's case).
So that's today's story. Hope it didn't bore you. Thanks for checking up on me, and keep on truckin' and commentin'.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Miles 'n Miles 'n Repairs 'n Miles 'n Miles
DATELINE: VAN BUREN, AR, 8:30 p.m. CDT
Gentle Readers,
My humblest apologies for the absence of updates these last few days. I haven't been ignoring you; I've just had some very lengthy days and been too tired to think straight enough to compose prose up to my usual, Pulitzer-standard standards. ;-) But let me take a stab at a quickie catch-up.
Tuesday, 584 miles
This was a day just about driving, driving, driving. Since my delivery was set for 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday in Jacksonville, I needed to get close by the end of Tuesday's drive. Mission accomplished as I reached a TA truck stop in Baldwin, FL, just a few miles west of J'ville. Interesting note: the air in the area was all smoky, kind of like fog, due to the wildfires in GA and FL. Kinda' eerie, although the area was not in any immediate danger of becoming ablaze.
Wednesday, 75 miles
What? I thought I said this was a busy day? How so with only 75 miles in the books? Well, it started as I finished my morning delivery. It was a drop-and-hook, in which I just drop my loaded trailer at the site and pick up an empty one that's already there. Well, I happened to pick the W-R-O-N-G empty. Since this was a customer site and not a USA Truck terminal, the selection of USA trailers to choose from was very slim. In fact, the one I took was the second one I tried to hook up to; I couldn't hook up the air lines on the first one--bad connectors, known as "glad hands". So I took option number two. Once done with that delivery and hookup, my next assignment came in almost immediately: Zip around to the other side of town and pick up a load bound for eastern Oklahoma, delivery on Friday.
The pickup time for that assignment was 9:00 a.m. I had been early to the delivery, but I just headed around town to the next site. I arrived there at 6:30 and found they weren't open yet. ('Twas a smaller company without round-the-clock hours like the big ones.) Someone finally arrived in their office at around 8:00...but their power was out. This place has a scale and needs to weigh the trucks as they come in and leave, and without power their scale was out of commission. Pretty ironic considering that practically across the street was a nuke power plant with a couple of big cooling towers. Anyway, long story short, power was restored and I was loaded and weighed before 9:00. Then the fun started.
After getting off the scale, I pulled to the side to slide the trailer's tandems forward (they had been all the way back, a fact I hadn't noticed when I picked up the trailer to begin with). With a 45,000 pound load, I needed to move them forward to distribute the weight evenly between the trailer's tandems and the truck's drive tires. With the tandems all the way back, there was too much weight on the drives to be legal. I'll skip the discussion on the axle limits and gross vehicle weights for now. I pulled the tandem release lever, climbed back into the truck, released the truck's parking brakes, keeping the trailer's brakes engaged, then put it into reverse. That should have slid the trailer along the top of the tandems, but instead the tires rolled! Oh-oh. The trailer brakes weren't holding. Once again, long story short: I called in to the Breakdown department, and they sent me back to the TA from whence I started the day to get the brakes repaired.
Long story short again ('cuz I'm tired again today, but I owe you loyal readers some news), I got back to the TA at around 9:30 a.m. or so, and the repairs weren't done 'til about 7:00 the next morning.
Thursday, 524 miles
There is more to that story, but I'll spare you--or rather, myself--that for now. Once repaired (and the tandems slid forward), I needed to hit the scale at the TA to make sure all my axles were legal. Nope; still too much weight on the drives. I encountered problems pulling the tandem release lever because of the weight of the load, yada, yada, yada, needed to re-weigh twice, yada, yada, yada, wound up taking almost another 2 hours to get on the road. Sheesh!
Finally on the road, I figured I had just enough time to make it to my destination by the end of the delivery window, 3:00 p.m. Friday. By the end of my allotted driving hours on Thursday I had made it to Winnfield, AL and pulled into a truck stop there for the night.
Friday (Today), 638 miles
Up early to complete the L-O-N-G trek to Muskogee, OK. I had to stop at USA's West Memphis, AR terminal (which was along today's route) to fuel up, since I had last done that in Baldwin before hitting the TA's shop for the trailer repairs. 'Twas a long day of driving, but I did reach the site at just about 3:00. (Woulda' been a bit earlier if someone there had answered the phone one of the several times I called to get precise directions for the direction from whence I was coming. Instead I had to figure it out on my own by looping around the town to reach the point the directions I had from USA came into play.) That delivery went nice 'n quick--musta' been a record for the shortest live unload of my short career. I soon had my next assignment, to pick up a load in SW AR at 10:00 p.m. I didn't have enough available work hours for today to get there for that pickup time, so I'll head there tomorrow the morning to get it. In the meantime, I did have just enough driving time left today to get back here to USA's HQ/terminal in Van Buren. From here it'll be a straight shot (well, as straight as the road goes) south down US-71 to the pickup in the morning.
And that's where the road has led me so far. I apologize again for missing a few days of updates. It has been hectic this week, and I'll have to have some downtime soon as I'm going to hit my 70-hour limit this weekend (16-1/2 hours left for the next 3 days, and I'll probably use up 11 or more tomorrow). Thanks again for your interest in my complainfest--er, trucking career. Please do let me know you're looking in by sending in some commentary. And do keep on truckin'.
Gentle Readers,
My humblest apologies for the absence of updates these last few days. I haven't been ignoring you; I've just had some very lengthy days and been too tired to think straight enough to compose prose up to my usual, Pulitzer-standard standards. ;-) But let me take a stab at a quickie catch-up.
Tuesday, 584 miles
This was a day just about driving, driving, driving. Since my delivery was set for 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday in Jacksonville, I needed to get close by the end of Tuesday's drive. Mission accomplished as I reached a TA truck stop in Baldwin, FL, just a few miles west of J'ville. Interesting note: the air in the area was all smoky, kind of like fog, due to the wildfires in GA and FL. Kinda' eerie, although the area was not in any immediate danger of becoming ablaze.
Wednesday, 75 miles
What? I thought I said this was a busy day? How so with only 75 miles in the books? Well, it started as I finished my morning delivery. It was a drop-and-hook, in which I just drop my loaded trailer at the site and pick up an empty one that's already there. Well, I happened to pick the W-R-O-N-G empty. Since this was a customer site and not a USA Truck terminal, the selection of USA trailers to choose from was very slim. In fact, the one I took was the second one I tried to hook up to; I couldn't hook up the air lines on the first one--bad connectors, known as "glad hands". So I took option number two. Once done with that delivery and hookup, my next assignment came in almost immediately: Zip around to the other side of town and pick up a load bound for eastern Oklahoma, delivery on Friday.
The pickup time for that assignment was 9:00 a.m. I had been early to the delivery, but I just headed around town to the next site. I arrived there at 6:30 and found they weren't open yet. ('Twas a smaller company without round-the-clock hours like the big ones.) Someone finally arrived in their office at around 8:00...but their power was out. This place has a scale and needs to weigh the trucks as they come in and leave, and without power their scale was out of commission. Pretty ironic considering that practically across the street was a nuke power plant with a couple of big cooling towers. Anyway, long story short, power was restored and I was loaded and weighed before 9:00. Then the fun started.
After getting off the scale, I pulled to the side to slide the trailer's tandems forward (they had been all the way back, a fact I hadn't noticed when I picked up the trailer to begin with). With a 45,000 pound load, I needed to move them forward to distribute the weight evenly between the trailer's tandems and the truck's drive tires. With the tandems all the way back, there was too much weight on the drives to be legal. I'll skip the discussion on the axle limits and gross vehicle weights for now. I pulled the tandem release lever, climbed back into the truck, released the truck's parking brakes, keeping the trailer's brakes engaged, then put it into reverse. That should have slid the trailer along the top of the tandems, but instead the tires rolled! Oh-oh. The trailer brakes weren't holding. Once again, long story short: I called in to the Breakdown department, and they sent me back to the TA from whence I started the day to get the brakes repaired.
Long story short again ('cuz I'm tired again today, but I owe you loyal readers some news), I got back to the TA at around 9:30 a.m. or so, and the repairs weren't done 'til about 7:00 the next morning.
Thursday, 524 miles
There is more to that story, but I'll spare you--or rather, myself--that for now. Once repaired (and the tandems slid forward), I needed to hit the scale at the TA to make sure all my axles were legal. Nope; still too much weight on the drives. I encountered problems pulling the tandem release lever because of the weight of the load, yada, yada, yada, needed to re-weigh twice, yada, yada, yada, wound up taking almost another 2 hours to get on the road. Sheesh!
Finally on the road, I figured I had just enough time to make it to my destination by the end of the delivery window, 3:00 p.m. Friday. By the end of my allotted driving hours on Thursday I had made it to Winnfield, AL and pulled into a truck stop there for the night.
Friday (Today), 638 miles
Up early to complete the L-O-N-G trek to Muskogee, OK. I had to stop at USA's West Memphis, AR terminal (which was along today's route) to fuel up, since I had last done that in Baldwin before hitting the TA's shop for the trailer repairs. 'Twas a long day of driving, but I did reach the site at just about 3:00. (Woulda' been a bit earlier if someone there had answered the phone one of the several times I called to get precise directions for the direction from whence I was coming. Instead I had to figure it out on my own by looping around the town to reach the point the directions I had from USA came into play.) That delivery went nice 'n quick--musta' been a record for the shortest live unload of my short career. I soon had my next assignment, to pick up a load in SW AR at 10:00 p.m. I didn't have enough available work hours for today to get there for that pickup time, so I'll head there tomorrow the morning to get it. In the meantime, I did have just enough driving time left today to get back here to USA's HQ/terminal in Van Buren. From here it'll be a straight shot (well, as straight as the road goes) south down US-71 to the pickup in the morning.
And that's where the road has led me so far. I apologize again for missing a few days of updates. It has been hectic this week, and I'll have to have some downtime soon as I'm going to hit my 70-hour limit this weekend (16-1/2 hours left for the next 3 days, and I'll probably use up 11 or more tomorrow). Thanks again for your interest in my complainfest--er, trucking career. Please do let me know you're looking in by sending in some commentary. And do keep on truckin'.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Headin' South
DATELINE: PIONEER, TN, 8:20 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 478
I'm going to keep this short today 'cuz I had a late night last night, an early morning today, and a long work day. So I'm good 'n tired. But here's how my day went.
I woke up (at home) at 4:30 for the trip back to my truck. Many thanks to Mrs. Reluctant Trucker (better than "Reluctant Mrs. Trucker", eh?) for the ride, 1/2 hour each way out of her way. I got back in the truck at just about 6:00 a.m., sent in my "back to work" message, then began the wait for today's assignment. It finally came in at around 7:45: Pick up a load at a company just 2 miles away, then take it to Jacksonville, FL for a Wednesday morning delivery.
Since I'm too tired to lushly describe all of the details of the pickup, I'll just say it went fine, fairly quick, and I was soon on my way south. I stopped at the Vandalia terminal for a quick repair of a broken headlight (the light worked, but the lens/cover had a hole in it, presumably from a rock) and to fuel up. The shop there also checked into why the truck's Warn Engine light is staying on, and from the error codes diagnosed some clogged hoses. They're not a major problem, and since I have little wiggle room in the time to get to the delivery, I decided to wait on getting that fixed. Fortunately, one of the arms on my steering wheel blocks that light most of the time, so I don't see it blaring at me constantly.
I was in and out of Vandalia within an hour, then spent the rest of my work day on the road south (well, except for a couple of rest stops and a short dinner break in Georgetown, KY). I decided to stop here (at a Pilot truck stop) as I was approaching it 'cuz I was starting to feel the fatigue, and it was getting late and the truck stops would soon all be filled up. As it was, I think I got the last open spot here. So now I'll just finish up today's report, get ready for bed, and get to sleep. I'll be up and back on the road at 6:00 tomorrow morning, the earliest I can given the 10-hour break requirement. I think I have around 500 miles to go tomorrow to reach the Jacksonville area, where I'll hole up for the night before getting up to make Wednesday morning's delivery. I think the weather's supposed to be good tomorrow, as it was today, so I ought to make good time.
Thanks one more time for your readership. I do look forward to reading your comments, so please indulge me and leave some. And don't forget, keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 478
I'm going to keep this short today 'cuz I had a late night last night, an early morning today, and a long work day. So I'm good 'n tired. But here's how my day went.
I woke up (at home) at 4:30 for the trip back to my truck. Many thanks to Mrs. Reluctant Trucker (better than "Reluctant Mrs. Trucker", eh?) for the ride, 1/2 hour each way out of her way. I got back in the truck at just about 6:00 a.m., sent in my "back to work" message, then began the wait for today's assignment. It finally came in at around 7:45: Pick up a load at a company just 2 miles away, then take it to Jacksonville, FL for a Wednesday morning delivery.
Since I'm too tired to lushly describe all of the details of the pickup, I'll just say it went fine, fairly quick, and I was soon on my way south. I stopped at the Vandalia terminal for a quick repair of a broken headlight (the light worked, but the lens/cover had a hole in it, presumably from a rock) and to fuel up. The shop there also checked into why the truck's Warn Engine light is staying on, and from the error codes diagnosed some clogged hoses. They're not a major problem, and since I have little wiggle room in the time to get to the delivery, I decided to wait on getting that fixed. Fortunately, one of the arms on my steering wheel blocks that light most of the time, so I don't see it blaring at me constantly.
I was in and out of Vandalia within an hour, then spent the rest of my work day on the road south (well, except for a couple of rest stops and a short dinner break in Georgetown, KY). I decided to stop here (at a Pilot truck stop) as I was approaching it 'cuz I was starting to feel the fatigue, and it was getting late and the truck stops would soon all be filled up. As it was, I think I got the last open spot here. So now I'll just finish up today's report, get ready for bed, and get to sleep. I'll be up and back on the road at 6:00 tomorrow morning, the earliest I can given the 10-hour break requirement. I think I have around 500 miles to go tomorrow to reach the Jacksonville area, where I'll hole up for the night before getting up to make Wednesday morning's delivery. I think the weather's supposed to be good tomorrow, as it was today, so I ought to make good time.
Thanks one more time for your readership. I do look forward to reading your comments, so please indulge me and leave some. And don't forget, keep on truckin'.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Downtime Begins Early
DATELINE: HOME!
I got a pleasant surprise yesterday. After I made the drive from Vandalia, OH and made my delivery in Livonia, MI, my fleet manager let me start my days off a day early. With perfect weather here, I was itching to take advantage of that and get to work on my yard. So I called my daughter, fresh home from college and doing nothing at the time, for a ride home, drove to the place I park my truck during hometime, and began my relaxing (?!) time off.
This promises to be another very busy weekend. I have many hours of spring cleaning yard work to take care of, some family financial matters to tend to, today's blog update, church on Sunday, and the spring concert by the men's chorus I helped found 18-1/2 years ago, Measure for Measure, A Men's Choral Society. (The concert is Sunday evening, 7:30 p.m., and Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. See www.Measure4Measure,org for full details. See you at the show!) Oh, and I need to spend some time with my family, too. It'll be a challenge to see how much I can get done in these 3-1/2 days.
So I'd better get to it. Thanks for dropping by, and keep on truckin'. And don't forget to leave your comments, too.
I got a pleasant surprise yesterday. After I made the drive from Vandalia, OH and made my delivery in Livonia, MI, my fleet manager let me start my days off a day early. With perfect weather here, I was itching to take advantage of that and get to work on my yard. So I called my daughter, fresh home from college and doing nothing at the time, for a ride home, drove to the place I park my truck during hometime, and began my relaxing (?!) time off.
This promises to be another very busy weekend. I have many hours of spring cleaning yard work to take care of, some family financial matters to tend to, today's blog update, church on Sunday, and the spring concert by the men's chorus I helped found 18-1/2 years ago, Measure for Measure, A Men's Choral Society. (The concert is Sunday evening, 7:30 p.m., and Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. See www.Measure4Measure,org for full details. See you at the show!) Oh, and I need to spend some time with my family, too. It'll be a challenge to see how much I can get done in these 3-1/2 days.
So I'd better get to it. Thanks for dropping by, and keep on truckin'. And don't forget to leave your comments, too.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
2 More Long Days
DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH (again!), 8:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 568
Miles Yesterday: 438
Looks like I owe you another double-dip after shirking my reporting duties yesterday. 'Twas a long, busy day after a short night's sleep and I was just bushed when I parked for the night. (Idle thought to my fellow dem's: Can we use that term for the sorry state of affairs in this country: We're all "Bushed"? But I digress.) Here's the story.
I woke up early in MO and headed up the road from my truck stop to my delivery appointment. I had a choice there between waiting for a "live unload" or a drop-and-hook. I chose the D&H, but I had to swap my loaded trailer for an empty one in the required dock door, so that meant 3 sets of unhooking and hooking up the trailers, such as I did in NJ a couple weeks ago. So that was just a bit of extra work, but I need the exercise.
After finishing the swap, I waited in that company's parking lot for my next assignment, which came rather quickly (in record time even). I was to make a pickup a bit north of where I was at the time, in Red Oak, IA, so I set off on my way. That drive took just about 2 hours. At the shipper I had to wait for a dock opening, but I was in and out of there in about 1-1/2 hours. The load's destination was a company just west of Toledo to which I had delivered once before. However, I had just 25-1/2 hours to get there according to the delivery time on the load assignment. So no lollygagging on this run.
I spent the rest of my work day driving across Iowa, ending at the World's Largest Truck Stop, the "Iowa 80" in Walcott. You regular readers know I've been there before. I parked, had some dinner (Taco Bell in their small food court), then hit the sack, tired out from the long day.
This morning I woke up good and refreshed, even 1/2 hour before my watch alarm was to do the job. But it was still early--4:00 CDT. That gave me time for a leisurely shower and shave (as opposed to a rushed one had I woken up when I had planned) before I hit the road at 5:30. I calculated it would take between 7 and 8 hours for the day's trip, and I nailed it. I reached the recipient customer just five minutes before 2:00, 35 minutes ahead of my "appointment". Which was a good thing, because the guard told me that had I been 5 minutes later, he would have sent me away. They have new receiving hours that end at 2:00 each afternoon. Whew! So he sent me back to the dock for unloading, which went nice 'n quick. I was done there at 2:30 and headed up the highway to a truck stop to wait for my next assignment. (As I was leaving that company, another USA truck was just pulling in on the other side of the divided driveway. I'd hate to have been in his shoes when he learned about the new hours there.)
The assignment message actually came in as I was driving to the truck stop. But since we can't read the messages while the truck is in motion, I just finished driving there anyway. The assignment: drive down to the Vandalia terminal to pick up a loaded trailer there, then deliver it in Livonia, MI Thursday at noon. Well that's easy enough. So I made the drive down here and am spending the night. I'll get to sleep in 'til the relatively late hour of 6:00, take my time getting ready for the road, then meander up to Livonia in plenty of time to be a bit early.
And that's where things stand for me right now. I've had my dinner and checked my e-mail. Now I'm feeling bushed once more (and "Bushed" constantly) and I think I'll get to sleep early again. Another good night's sleep ought to do me wonders. So here's wishing you a good night's sleep. Thanks for looking in, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 568
Miles Yesterday: 438
Looks like I owe you another double-dip after shirking my reporting duties yesterday. 'Twas a long, busy day after a short night's sleep and I was just bushed when I parked for the night. (Idle thought to my fellow dem's: Can we use that term for the sorry state of affairs in this country: We're all "Bushed"? But I digress.) Here's the story.
I woke up early in MO and headed up the road from my truck stop to my delivery appointment. I had a choice there between waiting for a "live unload" or a drop-and-hook. I chose the D&H, but I had to swap my loaded trailer for an empty one in the required dock door, so that meant 3 sets of unhooking and hooking up the trailers, such as I did in NJ a couple weeks ago. So that was just a bit of extra work, but I need the exercise.
After finishing the swap, I waited in that company's parking lot for my next assignment, which came rather quickly (in record time even). I was to make a pickup a bit north of where I was at the time, in Red Oak, IA, so I set off on my way. That drive took just about 2 hours. At the shipper I had to wait for a dock opening, but I was in and out of there in about 1-1/2 hours. The load's destination was a company just west of Toledo to which I had delivered once before. However, I had just 25-1/2 hours to get there according to the delivery time on the load assignment. So no lollygagging on this run.
I spent the rest of my work day driving across Iowa, ending at the World's Largest Truck Stop, the "Iowa 80" in Walcott. You regular readers know I've been there before. I parked, had some dinner (Taco Bell in their small food court), then hit the sack, tired out from the long day.
This morning I woke up good and refreshed, even 1/2 hour before my watch alarm was to do the job. But it was still early--4:00 CDT. That gave me time for a leisurely shower and shave (as opposed to a rushed one had I woken up when I had planned) before I hit the road at 5:30. I calculated it would take between 7 and 8 hours for the day's trip, and I nailed it. I reached the recipient customer just five minutes before 2:00, 35 minutes ahead of my "appointment". Which was a good thing, because the guard told me that had I been 5 minutes later, he would have sent me away. They have new receiving hours that end at 2:00 each afternoon. Whew! So he sent me back to the dock for unloading, which went nice 'n quick. I was done there at 2:30 and headed up the highway to a truck stop to wait for my next assignment. (As I was leaving that company, another USA truck was just pulling in on the other side of the divided driveway. I'd hate to have been in his shoes when he learned about the new hours there.)
The assignment message actually came in as I was driving to the truck stop. But since we can't read the messages while the truck is in motion, I just finished driving there anyway. The assignment: drive down to the Vandalia terminal to pick up a loaded trailer there, then deliver it in Livonia, MI Thursday at noon. Well that's easy enough. So I made the drive down here and am spending the night. I'll get to sleep in 'til the relatively late hour of 6:00, take my time getting ready for the road, then meander up to Livonia in plenty of time to be a bit early.
And that's where things stand for me right now. I've had my dinner and checked my e-mail. Now I'm feeling bushed once more (and "Bushed" constantly) and I think I'll get to sleep early again. Another good night's sleep ought to do me wonders. So here's wishing you a good night's sleep. Thanks for looking in, and keep on truckin'.
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